Chase
by G-girl Venus
Summary: This is the prologue for New Additions, it explains a bit more about Chase...


**_New Additions_** prologue

**Disclaimers~ **Gundam Wing does not belong to me. Chase, Jack, the Santaffs and other random characters that might show up, however, do belong to me. (Yeah!) So, please do not take or use any of them without my permission. 

**Warnings~ ** None really. language, slight violence

**Note~ ** This was written for my creative writing class, hence the vagueness when mentioning the pilots and the Gundams.

The ballroom was grandly decorated. The chandeliers sparkled, reflecting the light from each other. Candles burned on the dinning tables illuminating the room even more.

The floor was packed with people. The men were dressed in fine black tuxes , the women in fancy gowns of all shapes and sizes. The people danced and talked, content in just enjoying themselves.

A girl, no more than 15, with dark golden hair that hung around her shoulders and cyan blue eyes stood by one of the tables in a stunning long red dress, conversing with an older gentleman and his wife. She smiled sweetly as she listened to their stories.

"Sergeant Major."

The young girl turned to find the source of the voice. It was a young man of about 17 with dark hair and deep blue eyes. She smiled at her friend.

"Good evening Corporeal."

He smiled back as he nodded in greeting to the older couple who then excused themselves. "Such formalities Chase. This is a night for relaxation!"

Chase gave him a look. "You started it, Jack." Jack's smiled widened. "I haven't seen you all night, have you been enjoying yourself?"

"As much as possible. It's not very often we get nights off like this."

Chase nodded in agreement. "It's been so long since everyone's just relaxed, It's almost as if everyone has forgotten about the war."

The young Corporeal took a quick look around the room. "It's nice though, even the Colonel isn't in uniform tonight."

"Well, this isn't a military event." As she reached down to retrieve her drink from the table she detected a certain person out of the corner of her eye. It was a young man, quite close to her age with short brown hair and brown eyes.

"Chase McKay." He grinned as he stopped in front of her, taking her hand and kissing it.

"Jonathan Santaff," Chase said not trying very hard to hide her disgust, "What a not so pleasant surprise."

"I really love your honesty Miss McKay." He smiled slyly, Chase wrenched her hand from his. "Don't you think it was nice of my father to fund this little event?", Jonathan gestured around the room ignoring Chase's blatant act of annoyance.

"I think it's a nice retreat from the norm, if that's what you mean."

Jonathan continued to grin at the object of his obsessions. Chase sighed and looked at Jack who just shrugged. Jonas Santaff's son was known to be a lady's man, any girl would have killed just to have him to look at her, but he was determined to have the one woman who despised him. Chase.

The young man moved closer to the golden haired beauty, running the backs of his fingers down her bare shoulder. "Why don't you let me take you on a tour of my home", he suggested, "I'm sure you'd find it very interesting." He looked her in the eyes.

Chase fought the urge to punch the obnoxious boy. She had been trained since childhood to deal with jerks like this and she wasn't about to forsake all her years of hard work just yet. Besides, his father was a growing power in the foundation. She forced a smile, "Somehow I doubt that."

A quick glance at her friend drew his attention, "Jack, weren't you just about to ask me to dance?"

"Oh, Yes. Yes I was." , he said, quickly taking the hint. He took Chase's arm and led her to the dance floor.

Jonathan bristled, realizing that he had, once again, lost.

******

Chase let out a small sigh as she and her friend danced. "Thank you."

"No problem." Jack shrugged it off. "You really don't like him do you?"

"Not the slightest bit."

"But most of the time when you don't like someone you play it up anyway then curse about it later. Why not with him?", the dark haired boy asked.

"I don't know. He's just so...", the young soldier searched for the word, "Egotistical."

Jack gave a nod in agreement. "If you ever want someone to beat him up for you, let me know."

Chase gave a small smile, "I think I could take him." The music flowed around them as they danced quietly for a few moments. The cyan eyed girl broke their silence with one soft statement, "Thank you."

The Corporal was caught by surprise, "Huh? For what?"

"For being my friend." Chase's face held a softer expression than usual, almost...sad. "I haven't had many in my life."

Jack thought about questioning her comment, but then decided against it. If he had learned one thing about Chase in their time together, it was that she didn't tend to want to talk about her past before joining OZ.

******

The night progressed and soon the guests began to depart, back to their homes or perhaps a nearby base. Jack assisted Chase in putting on her shawl, then proceeded to grab his own jacket.

"So, back to life.," the young man commented as they began to walk down the steps of the mansion.

"Not quite yet. I won't be reporting back to the base until tomorrow afternoon, I have some business to take care of."

"You always have extra work to do." The two stopped as they waited for their cars. "What is it that keeps you so busy even outside of the military?"

"Personal stuff." She left it at that.

"Sergeant Major?"

The soft alto voice came from behind them. Jack and Chase turned to see a young woman with long brown hair done up in a fancy style, with brown eyes, wearing a long blue dress. She was carrying a baby with white hair and aquamarine eyes. They recognized her as the Santaff's oldest daughter.

"Is something wrong Sarah?," Chase asked as her car was brought up behind them.

"You left this at your table." Sarah held out a small black device. Chase mentally whacked herself.

"Thank you.," she said taking it, "Wouldn't want to leave this behind." The baby reached out to Chase, she gave the child her finger to hold. "Is this your sister?"

"Yes, this is Mackenzie.," Sarah smiled, "Mother's pride and joy."

"Her hair and eyes are very different.," Jack said, "Everyone else in your family has brown hair and brown eyes."

"I know, she's really a sort of enigma. She's been sickly ever since she was born but lately she seems to have miraculously regained her health."

"She's how old now? Nine, ten months?," Chase asked still looking at Mackenzie.

"Nine months."

"Perhaps she's just grown out of it." The driver of her car opened the door behind her. "I have to go."

Sarah nodded politely and Jack said a quick good-bye before getting in his own car.

As the car pulled away Chase stared at the black object that had been returned to her.

"Good thing Sarah returned you. I would've been in big trouble if someone else had found out what you are."

******

"And what would you have done if it hadn't been returned?" The voice was worn from years of use, and the tone was stern as it came from the lap top. Now home and clad in her more comfortable jeans and white tank top, Chase flopped down into her chair and put her feet up on the desk, she glanced to the side at her computer as she put her hands behind her head.

"I would have deleted all the information on it. It can be accessed from this computer."

"So what did you find out?" the old man's image popped up on the screen. He had long gray hair, his eyes were metal orbs, and his left hand had been replaced by a three pronged claw. He wore a long white lab coat that suggested that he was a scientist.

"Not much yet." Chase answered, "I haven't had time to sort through all the dialogue it collected tonight."

"Nothing has caught your attention?"

"Someone mentioned wanting to upgrade a mobile suit, but it wasn't thoroughly explored."

"I expect you to get more information on that. If a new model is built it could mean problems for us."

"I know what my job is. If it looks like a threat I'll arrange to have it eliminated immediately."

Lights from outside suddenly poured through the window, the young girl sat up in her chair.

"What was that?" the old scientist demanded as he watched her get up and look out the window.

"A car." she answered. The golden haired girl kept in the shadows of her room as the car door opened and a familiar OZ soldier stepped out. She cursed under her breath, "Jack."

The old man looked to the side for a second as if acknowledging someone else before looking back towards Chase who was walking back over to the lap top. "Go deal with it. Contact me as soon as you have more information." Chase nodded and cut the connection.

"What could Jack possibly want?" she wondered out loud, the door bell rang, "Well I guess I'll find out." With that she left her room and went down to the door.

Chase gave a quick glance at her clock before opening the door. Jack stood on the other side wearing his OZ uniform. "Jack it's three o'clock in the morning, what do you want?"

"I know, I'm sorry if I woke you but the Colonel says he needs to speak with you."

"Colonel Treize?" Jack nodded. "Now?" Another nod. Chase sighed, "You don't happen to know what about do you?"

"All I know is that he has something he wants to discuss with you."

The young Sergeant Major turned and began to walk upstairs, "I'll go change."

******

The moonlight shone brightly into the lavishly furnished office of Colonel Treize Kushrenada. The OZ commander sat at his desk looking over the new reports that had come in that afternoon. The ones that interested him most, however, were the ones that Jonas Santaff had sent over just before he had left for the party. The report contained blueprints for a new mobile suit model, one that Jonas claimed would be able to stand up to the Gundams.

However, something had told him that these new mobile suits weren't all they were cracked up to be. And that was precisely why he was still looking at them at three-thirty in the morning.

The Colonel wasn't an expert on mobile suit design but he felt that he needed to have these blueprints examined before he gave them further thought. So he had sent for one of his most promising and trusted engineers, who happened to also be an excellent soldier.

Sergeant Major Chase McKay.

Treize did feel a little guilty about sending for her at such an ungodly hour, but then he was also almost positive that she hadn't been asleep. He began sifting through the papers once again when there was a knock at his door.

"Come in."

The door swung open and an older woman took a step inside, "The Sergeant Major has arrived Sir."

The elegant young man stood, the moonlight catching his strawberry-blonde hair. "Send her in."

The secretary gave a nod and stepped aside allowing Chase to enter. She now wore her OZ uniform and had pulled her hair back into a low ponytail. The secretary left, closing the door behind herself leaving the two alone.

"Your Excellency." Chase gave a polite salute to her Commander. He nodded back to her. "You wanted to discuss something with me?"

"I did indeed. Please sit down." He gestured to a chair in front of his desk and smiled his charismatic smile. The young girl took the seat offered to her and took in the familiar rose scent of Treize's office. "I would like to apologize if you were inconvenienced in any way by coming here. I know it's quite an unusual time for a meeting." Treize said as he too took his seat.

"No inconvenience Sir, I was awake." The Colonel nodded and picked up the blueprints that were the reason for his calling Chase. Eyeing the papers, the dark-golden haired girl decided to move the meeting along. "Is something wrong your Excellency?"

"I, myself, do not quite know. That is why you are here. What do you make of these?" He asked as handed her the blueprints.

She took them and began to look through them, studying each part carefully and raised an eyebrow as she did so. "Who designed this?"

Treize also raised an eyebrow, "I take it that you've found some sort of flaw?"

"Just one, although a major one.' Chase continued to flip through the papers in her hands. "But theoretically speaking this would be an incredibly powerful mobile suit."

"What's wrong with the plan?"

"It's impossible." Chase looked up at Treize. "Whoever designed this doesn't know much about the way mobile suits work. The proportions of the weapons and the approximated magnitude of the power of the weapons would be impossible to wield. The whole thing is a walking disaster waiting to happen."

"Could it be adjusted to make it possible?" If there was even the slightest possibility that he could get his hands on this suit, the OZ commander wanted it. It could give them a considerable advantage against the enemy.

The Sergeant Major glanced at the blueprints again. "I suppose so. It wouldn't be as powerful as what's on this paper here, but if everything was done proportionally, it would most likely still be more powerful than our current mobile suits."

Treize sat in thought for a few moments, going over all possible courses of action. After a few minutes of silence, he spoke. "Can you make the adjustments?"

"I can Sir."

"Then do so. Bring it back here when you are finished. In the mean time I will make arrangements for it's production."

"Yes Sir."

********

"Arghh!!" Chase slammed her bedroom door behind herself. Flinging herself onto her bed she glared at the empty air wishing she had something to break. /Calm down./ she told herself trying to slow her breathing, /You need to think./ Deep, even breaths followed eventually harnessing her temper. She sat up and stared at the blueprints she had tossed to the floor. Chase hated assignments like this. Not that she couldn't easily pull it off, just that it was aggravating trying to keep two opposing sides happy at the same time.

"Okay. Make the new mobile suit powerful enough so that OZ will be satisfied with a stronger suit, and make sure that it has enough undetectable weaknesses so that it doesn't cause a problem for us." Chase scowled, "Piece of cake." She picked up the papers and began looking through them for the second time that night, her eyes fell upon a certain signature at the bottom of one of the pages. "Jonas Santaff huh? This little mission may prove to be very useful."

******

Two days later Chase once again stood in Treize's office. The Colonel was going through the revised version of the plans at his desk. The young Sergeant Major stood in front of his desk watching his facial expressions.

"I think you'll find it to be an exceptional suit, Your Excellency. I modified everything so that it maintained the estimated power in every component I could, and what had to be lessened is still more powerful than anything we have at the present time."

"Indeed." Treize stood and set the papers on the mahogany wood in front of him, "You shall be in charge of overseeing the manufacturing of this new suit and making sure that it achieves it's full potential. I shall arrange for you to go to the Santaff residence immediately."

"The Santaff residence?" Chase wasn't sure she had understood correctly.

"Yes. Jonas Santaff has insisted that the production site be an underground factory below his home."

"Pardon me for questioning Sir, but, isn't that a little foolish? Dangerous even? What if something was to go wrong?"

"I had the same reservations as you Miss McKay, but he was very persuasive and came up with some good points." The OZ commander walked around to stand in front of Chase. "Don't you worry about it though, you just make sure that he turns out the best suit OZ has ever seen."

"Yes Sir."

"I trust you will do so. You haven't failed me yet, please do not this time either."

Chase gave a small nod. /How can he put so much faith in one person? Especially when that one person is a spy for the enemy? But, that's what I was trained for. To gain the unyielding trust of the Commander of OZ./

"You make take one other officer with you, of your choice, to be your second in command."

"In that case I request the assistance of Corporal Jack Kona. He has always proved to be a suitable ally in my work."

"I will make sure he is assigned to your staff."

"Thank you Sir."

******

Chase stepped out of the car and nodded in thanks to the servant who had opened it for her. She stared up at the grand house before her. The Santaff mansion looked different in the day light, the brick almost shone in the sun light and with all the flowers open and in full bloom the house radiated elegance. /No one would ever guess that Mobile Suits were being manufactured here. Perfect plan./

"Chase!" Corporal Jack stood at the top of the entrance way dressed in his Oz uniform. Cyan eyes met dark blue, lighting up subconsciously.

"Jack, you're here already." she stated climbing the stairs to meet him, "Are things all in working order?"

"Sure are, and waiting for you."

"Good. Is Jonas Santaff home?"

The young man quirked a sort of half smile, "Yes Ma'am," he said mockingly, "He and his son are waiting to meet you in the parlor."

Cyan eyes narrowed. "Tell Jonas that I require a meeting with him and him alone. I have nothing to discuss with his son."

"Ma'am." Jack saluted her and went back into the house. Chase closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

/This is going to be a long visit./

******

Later that night, Chase sat down in the production room over looking the equipment. So far it had all seemed satisfactory, only a few things needed to be replaced with a more efficient model. Mr. Santaff definitely had the money for backing the production of a new mobile suit. The Romafeller foundation was made up of the richest men on the planet, but only the top few had enough money for something of this caliber. Those were the ones with the power. Those were the ones who were problems. Those were the ones who needed to be dealt with. In one form or another. That put Chase in a very sticky situation. If she eliminated Santaff at this point in time she ran the risk of drawing suspicion to herself, if she didn't however, he could gain too much influence in the Foundation for her to tamper with directly. Which created even more problems. Hopefully, an opportunity would present it's self.

As she continued her inspection she soon became increasingly aware of a presence following her. "Jonathan Santaff if you come within ten feet of me I will personally relieve you of some vital organs." She did not bother to turn to address him thus catching him off guard.

Jonathan stopped, absorbing her threat. "How did you know I was following you?"

"What kind of a soldier would I be if I couldn't tell when I was being followed?"

"Always a new surprise with you Chase. I think that's what attracted me to you." He took a few more steps shortening the distance between them.

"The attraction is one way, I assure you." Chase stated emotionlessly, looking over the schematics of one of the machines. "Please do not make me repeat myself. I will not hesitate to carry out my promise if you get any closer."

"Do I make you uncomfortable my Love?" He breached the remaining space between them, "I certainly don't want that."

With one swift movement the golden haired girl turned and wrapped her right hand firmly around the Santaff heir's neck. "I don't make promises I don't keep Jonathan." her voice was low with a dangerous edge.

"You can't kill me Chase." Jonathan smiled even though his air supply was growing increasingly small, "It would compromise your position and you've worked much too hard to get where you are now."

"Accidents happen Jonathan." Her cyan eyes burrowed into his brown, "But you're right." she released her gripped allowing him to fall to the ground gasping for air, "You're not worth my time."

"Some grip you've got there." Jonathan croaked rubbing his neck, "No wonder you're such an asset to Treize."

"Don't think I wasn't serious before Jonathan. My promise still stands. Come anywhere near me during my time here and you will regret it deeply." Chase stood over him, her eyes narrowed.

The brown haired young man pushed himself to his feet, ending up face to face with Chase, close enough to touch. "Don't worry Chase," he said smiling, "I won't tell it was you when these bruises show up." he indicated to his neck. "I wouldn't want to get you in any trouble."

"I don't need any favors from you. _ Except_ that you stay away from me."

"What ever you say Love." the sarcasm dripped form his voice. Chases' expression never wavered. Finally Jonathan backed up and began to walk away. He new that if he pushed any farther he would most likely walk away with his head held in his arms. /Until next time./

/Note to self._ Both_ Santaff men must go./ Once he could no longer be seen Chase went back to her work, her mood now soured. /It is definitely going to be a long stay./

******

"Sergeant Major!" Jack's voice rang through the production room. The skeletons of the new mobile suits now stood in rows, filling most of the room. It was very early in the morning, so early that none of the workers had reported to their jobs yet, but not early enough for Chase not to be going over the new suits. He knew that she would be down here somewhere.

"What?" The reply came from one of the mobile suits, Jack quickly pinpointed the location of the voice and began climbing the catwalks. Leaning into one of the cockpits he could see a pair of feet hanging down from the ceiling. Jack couldn't help but crack a small smile.

"What are you doing??"

"Picking flowers." came the curt reply. She slid down into the seat below her. "What does it look like?"

The Corporal raised an eyebrow, "Is something wrong?"

Chase sighed and rubbed the back of her hand across her left cheek, leaving a dark oily smudge on her perfect skin. "If I find one more careless wiring mistake heads are going to roll."

"What kind of mistake?" Jack sat down on the cockpit door in front of her.

"The arm and foot controls are switched."

"That's pretty bad." the young man shook his head, "Do you think maybe the blueprints are messed up?"

"My blueprints are not 'messed up' Jack." Her gaze narrowed, locking their eyes.

"Okay, Okay! Calm down!" he put his hands up in a sign of surrender, "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Chase rubbed her forehead, smearing even more oil on her face, "I'm sorry Jack. Correcting the same mistake over and over again can really wear on your nerves."

"Ah, don't worry about it. Do you want some help?"

"No. This was the last one." The golden haired girl climbed past Jack and onto the catwalk moving over to one of the computers stationed there. The dark haired boy followed.

Walking up behind her he slowly wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his head in the nape of her neck as she typed. He watched as she worked, taking in the sweet scent of strawberries and oil she always carried. Jack always treasured the short moments he could spend with her, just the two of them.

Chase closed her eyes as her hands began to stumble clumsily over the keyboard. The feel of Jack's arms around her felt so right, but yet, so wrong. She had been trained to be a soldier, a spy, and she was well trained in the art of seduction, it was one of the best ways to get information from men, but she had also been given specific instructions not to become involved with anyone. Dr. J. had made that all quite clear. She shifted slightly in his arms.

"Jack please don't."

"Why? We both feel the same way, why try to deny it?'

"I'm not trying to deny it Jack. I've explained this to you before." Chase pulled away from his embrace. "A soldier can't afford to have attachments. They become distractions and liabilities." She began to correct the mistakes she had made earlier on the computer, trying to maintain her focus.

Jack sighed and leaned against the railing. "I don't know who told you that, but whoever it was, they must have lead a pretty lonely life."

"I can't afford distractions Jack." Chase turned to face him, "I have a lot to do during this war and I can't have any sort of attachment that could be used against me." Not wanting to continue the conversation any further, she turned and began to walk away.

"Damn it Chase!" Jack stood and took a step towards her, "You take your job as a soldier more seriously than you do your own life! What kind of way to live is that?!"

Slowly Chase stopped and spoke, not turning to face her friend, "It's the only way I know how to live." After a few moments she could hear Jack's defeated footsteps as he walked away. /I'm sorry Jack, but you don't understand my situation./

******

One month later, Chase sat at her desk in the office she had been given during her stay at the Santaff residence. An estimated completion date for the mobile suits lay in front of her, declaring that they could be distributed in less than two weeks. Time was running short.

/I have to make a decision soon./, she thought to herself. /I can have the transport destroyed or I can have this whole place eliminated. Which ever I pick, I have to make sure that it doesn't compromise my station./ A knock at the door drew her out of her thoughts, "Who is it?"

"It's Emilia Santaff. May I come in?"

"Of course." The golden haired girl stood, adjusting her low ponytail, as the Mistress of the household entered her office. Emilia was a tall and beautiful woman, and it was quite clear where the Santaff daughters had gotten their soft, sweet features from. "What can I do for you?"

Mrs. Santaff smiled sweetly, "My husband wished for me to tell you that he has gone off to a meeting with the Romafeller foundation and will not be back for several days."

/The Romafeller Foundation?/ "Thank you, I trust that everything is alright?"

"Oh yes, if anything things are better than alright." The refined woman nodded her head in a respectful farewell as she started to leave, "If you'll excuse me I have to go take Mackenzie to the doctor."

"Is she felling well?" Chase asked, surprisingly genuinely concerned for the child she had gotten to know a little during her stay.

"Yes. Just a check up. Good day."

"Good day." The Sergeant Major sat back down in her chair after Emilia had left. "What could Romafeller want with Jonas Santaff? This can't possibly be a good thing from my stand point."

"Chase!" Jack ran into her office, causing the door to slam into the wall. Chase looked up startled.

"Jack what's wrong? You look like someone just told you bad news. Please do not have bad news for me."

"You have to come down to the production room. A new order has been issued."

"New orders?"

******

"What do you mean they're going to be mobile dolls?! That was not the plan!" Chase demanded as she stood in front of a table where a new set of blueprints sat. The private who had been elected to tell her quivered in fright as he stood on the other side of the table. He knew she wouldn't take this well.

"The orders just came in a few hours ago. They were sent directly from Colonel Tuberov." He braced himself for his commanding officer's explosion.

"Tuberov??!! Since when does HE have anything to do with this project??!! And why wasn't I made aware of this change when it first came in??!" Chase was fuming with anger, she didn't like having her orders overridden.

"Chase calm down!" Jack pleaded not wanting any of the machinery to become damaged, "I'm sure we can figure this all out."

"What is there to figure out? You have a call from Treize, Chase."

The young girl glared up at Jonathan who had appeared behind her, "Trust me Jonathan, you do not want to get on my case right now!" She pushed past him, turning on the video phone where the Colonel's image appeared. "Sir please explain to me what is going on." She struggled to keep her voice level as to not disrespect her superior.

"I had nothing to with it my dear Sergeant Major, Jonas Santaff must have managed to convince the Foundation. The order can not be over ridden even by me."

"Sir you know how I feel about mobile dolls."

"And you know that I share those feelings, but there is nothing we can do. We have lost this battle Chase but there will be many more." Treize remained calm and refined as always. "Take your men and report back to the base. You'll be of more use here now."

"Yes Sir." With that the link was cut. Chase turned to Jack, "Tell our men to pack up. We'll leave tonight."

"Yes Ma'am'" Jack saluted and walked away to carry out his order.

"I guess our time together has come to an end. It really is a shame." Jonathan leaned against the wall. Chase stormed past him not even bothering to retort.

******

"So you were sent back." The old man was once again on Chase's computer screen. The teenager nodded. "Well it's just as well." He watched as Chase rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration, "Perhaps I trained you too well, you always take your assignments so seriously whether they are given by me or OZ."

"I'm sorry Dr.J, a lot's been on my mind from a lot of different things."

"Don't let yourself get distracted. Anyway, I have a mission for you."

"A mission for me?"

"Yes. Jonas Santaff has gained too much power to quickly for my liking. I also don't think that it's a good idea for mobile dolls designed by you to get out into circulation."

"I was having the same thoughts. Mission accepted." She shut down the link between herself and the old man and put her feet up on the desk. "Good thing I hadn't reported that new flaw I discovered yesterday. A faulty self destruct device can be used to my advantage. And allow me to kill two birds with one stone."

Well, that's that. Hope you liked it, I know what it's like to read something when it doesn't have the G-boys in it, gets kinda annoying sometimes. But I hope that this gives a little more insight on what's going on in New Additions. Maybe now while you read you can go, "Aha!" at something.

On to Part 1

As always, C&C is loved!

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